Motels4Now and local housing advocates work to provide housing to homeless people in South Bend

January 21, 2022

The City of South Bend has long had a weather amnesty policy that provided seasonal emergency shelter in the City by permitting provider organizations to remain open for longer than normal operating hours. Weather amnesty is implemented in the coldest winter months and terminated in the spring. When it ended in the spring of 2020, unprecedented challenges emerged because the end of weather amnesty coincided with the coronavirus outbreak. At the time, approximately one hundred displaced people set up tents around downtown South Bend. In response, local housing advocates called on the City to use their allocated CARES Act funds to provide personal protective equipment, sanitation facilities, and emergency shelter to those in need. 

COVID-19 restrictions had resulted in the closure of existing shelters and the few public restroom facilities available. By August the situation had grown dramatically worse when a regular donor to Our Lady of the Road (OLR) offered to support the relocation of people into motel rooms. An initial donation of $30,000 was matched within one week by another longtime OLR supporter. 

Local housing advocates were then hired as independent contractors to develop the motel relocation program, supported by administrative and material support from OLR and Michiana Five for the Homeless. Motels4Now (M4N) was launched and the advocates began moving 42 people from tents into motel rooms on August 17, 2020. Thirty more people joined by the end of the month.

St. Joseph County officials began meeting with M4N in September. Using CARES Act funding, they contracted with OLR as the sponsor of M4N to continue sheltering people in motels from October 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021. The City of South Bend agreed to fund Oaklawn for the provision of mental health and other wrap-around services for this same period. With the approval of funds from the County for operational costs of the program, M4N staff grew by adding a full-time administrator and two additional part-time on-site outreach workers. 

One out of five M4N guests go on to more stable living situations after being at the motel, and fewer than one in five are asked to leave for not following M4N rules. Guests are also accessing mental health care at Epworth, planning for and going to rehabilitation centers, applying for and acquiring jobs, setting up and keeping medical appointments, acquiring phones, insurance, and food stamps.

When asked about next steps for M4N and the homeless crisis in South Bend, local housing advocate and Notre Dame theology professor Margie Pfeil explained, “the current program is housing 120 people, with 380 on the waitlist, but there’s a real lack of affordable housing in South Bend, so there’s nowhere for people to go once they leave the motel. On January 25 we’ll go to the County Council to ask for $1.6 million from American Rescue Plan funds to keep us going for another year while we lay the groundwork for a permanent low-barrier intake center to be located on the grounds of Portage Manor.” 

If you have questions about M4N you can call: 574-222-0417